CASE SUMMARY

Before the 2020 Census redistricting data was released, the Illinois General Assembly drafted and passed state legislative redistricting plans on May 28, 2021 using population estimates derived from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey ("ACS"), which the state's Governor signed into law on June 4, 2021. On June 9, 2021 the minority leaders of the Illinois Senate and Illinois House of Representatives filed a federal lawsuit against the Illinois State Board of Elections, state election officials, the Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives and the President of the Illinois Senate, challenging the constitutionality of the enacted legislative plans. The plaintiffs alleged due to the inherent inaccuracies in the ACS's population estimates, the plans could not ensure substantially equally populated Senate and Representative Districts in violation of the one person, one vote principle under the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause. They also asserted the plans violated the Equal Protection Clause because the decision to use ACS data was arbitrary and discriminatory in that certain populations and areas would be over-estimated while others would be under-estimated, particularly areas with large minority populations. The plaintiffs sought a judicial declaration that the enacted legislative plans were unconstitutional and a permanent injunction barring the defendants from implementing the plans in future elections. Additionally, they requested a writ of mandamus requiring the defendants to appoint members to a bipartisan commission with the authority to enact valid redistricting plans pursuant to the procedures laid out in article IV, § 3 of the Illinois Constitution. On June 25, 2021 the court granted an unopposed motion to reassign a related case, Contreras v. Ill. State Bd. of Elections, to the same judge handling this case. On September 24, 2021 Illinois enacted replacement legislative plans which revised the June ACS plans using the official 2020 Census population figures. The plaintiffs amended their claims to challenge these new plans as violating § 2 of the Voting Rights Act and as unconstitutional racial gerrymanders under the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause.

On October 19, 2021 the district court issued an opinion granting summary judgment to the plaintiffs and striking down the June redistricting plans on the grounds they violated the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause. The court found the plaintiffs had made out a prima facie case for a 14th Amendment one person, one vote claim by showing the June plans had maximum population deviations of 29.9% in House districts and 20.3% in Senate districts, deviations which were particularly large given the technological advances in redistricting. The court rejected the state's argument that the plans' deviations and underlying use of ACS figures were justified by the need to promptly pass redistricting plans given the delayed release of census data, stating there would've been ample time for the state to enact plans following the official census data release in August 2021 and noting the Census Bureau and several courts had explicitly stated that ACS data is not to be used for redistricting. The court also rejected the state's argument they were under a "constitutional duty" to complete redistricting by June 30, explaining that the General Assembly's desire to retain map drawing authority does not justify violations of the one person, one vote constitutional principle. Notably, the court not only struck down the June redistricting plans, but also invalidated the September revised plans on the grounds they were substantially based off the malapportioned June plans. As for the remedy, the court stated it would treat the General Assembly's September plans as their remedial plans submission. Plaintiffs submitted their proposed remedial legislative plans on November 10, 2021.

On December 30, 2021 the three-judge panel issued an opinion finding in favor of the defendants and upholding the challenged districts. The court found there was sufficient evidence of crossover voting in the relevant areas to defeat the plaintiffs' claims of racially polarized voting, which is the third Gingles precondition required to establish a § 2 violation. Furthermore, the court rejected the plaintiffs' racial gerrymandering claims on the grounds the General Assembly's overwhelmingly predominant consideration when drawing the plans was political, not racial, gerrymandering. While noting that partisan gerrymandering remained controversial, the court nevertheless cited the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling of federal nonjusticiability in Rucho v. Common Cause and stated such issues are to be resolved outside the federal courts.

Related Cases: Contreras v. Ill. State Bd. of Elections; East St. Louis Branch of the NAACP v. Ill. State Bd. of Elections

CASE LIBRARY

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division - No. 1:21-cv-3091

• Complaint - 6/9/21
• Request for Three-Judge Court - 6/9/21
• Motion for Expedited Schedule and Trial - 6/17/21
• Memorandum of Law in Support of Motion for Expedited Schedule and Trial - 6/17/21
• Joint Status Report on Reassignment - 6/25/21
• Unopposed Motion for Reassignment - 6/25/21
• Notice of Case Reassignment - 6/25/21
• Order - 6/28/21
• Order - 7/14/21
• Defendants Illinois State Board of Elections and Its Members' Motion to Dismiss Plaintiffs' Complaint - 7/16/21
• Defendants Illinois State Board of Elections and Its Members' Memorandum of Law in Support of Their Motion to Dismiss Plaintiffs' Complaint - 7/16/21
• Defendants Welch, Office of the Speaker, Harmon, Office of the President's Rule 12(B) Motion to Dismiss - 7/16/21
• Plaintiffs' Proposed Updated Expert Discovery Plan - 7/23/21
• Defendants Welch and Harmon's Proposed Expert Discovery Plan - 7/23/21
• Defendants Illinois State Board of Elections and Its Members' Proposed Expert Discovery Plan - 7/23/21
• Motion to Intervene by the Illinois Republican Party - 7/27/21
• First Amended Complaint - 7/29/21
• Motion to Withdraw Motion to Intervene by the Illinois Republican Party - 8/2/21
• Plaintiffs' Memorandum of Law in Support of their Motion - 8/4/21
• Plaintiffs' Motion to Compel Leadership Defendants - 8/4/21
• Plaintiffs' Notice of Motion to Compel - 8/4/21
• Notice of Order Granting Withdraw of Motion to Intervene - 8/6/21
• Transfer of Case to Executive Committee for Referral to Another Judge - 8/6/21
• Order - 8/11/21
• Defendant Members of the Illinois State Board of Elections' Motion to Dismiss Plaintiffs' Amended Complaint - 8/12/21
• Defendant Members of the Illinois State Board of Elections' Memorandum of Law in Support of Their Motion to Dismiss Plaintiffs' Amended Complaint - 8/12/21
• Defendants Welch, Office of the Speaker, Harmon, and the Office of the President's Motion for Extension of Time to Answer or Otherwise Plead - 8/12/21
• Plaintiffs' Reply Memorandum in Support of Their Motion to Compel Leadership Defendants to Respond to Discovery Requests - 8/16/21
• Order - 8/17/21
• Order - 8/18/21
• Plaintiffs' Motion for Summary Judgment - 8/19/21
• Memorandum of Law in Support of Plaintiffs' Motion for Summary Judgment - 8/19/21
• Plaintiffs' Local Rule 56.1 Statement of Materials Facts - 8/19/21
• Defendants Welch, Office of the Speaker, Harmon, and Office of the President's Rule 12(B) Motion to Dismiss Plaintiffs' Amended Complaint - 8/19/21
• Defendants' Motion to Adjourn the Expert Discovery Schedule and Set Status Conference for September 1, 2021 - 8/20/21
• Defendants' Memorandum in Support of Motion to Adjourn the Expert Discovery Schedule and Set Status Conference for September 1, 2021 - 8/20/21
• Notice of Motion to Adjourn the Expert Discovery Schedule - 8/20/21
• Order Granting in Part and Denying in Part Motion to Compel - 8/21/21
• Plaintiffs' Combined Motion for Expedited Briefing Schedule With Respect to Pending Dispositive Motions and Opposition to Defendants' Motion to Adjourn the Expert Discovery Schedule and Set a Status Conference for September 1, 2021 - 8/21/21
• Notice of Combined Motion to Expedite and Opposition to Defendants' Motion - 8/21/21
• Notification of Docket Entry - 8/23/21
• Status Report - 9/1/21
• Order - 9/2/21
• Order - 9/8/21
• Defendant Members of the Illinois State Board of Elections' Response to Plaintiffs' Motion for Summary Judgment - 9/10/21
• Defendant Members of the Illinois State Board of Elections' Response to Plaintiffs' Local Rule 56.1 Statement of Facts - 9/10/21
• Plaintiffs' Memorandum in Opposition to the Motion to Dismiss the Amended Complaint Filed by Defendants Welch, Office of the Speaker, Harmon, and Office of the President - 9/10/21
• Plaintiffs' Opposition to Illinois State Board of Elections Members' Motion to Dismiss - 9/10/21
• Defendants Welch, Office of the Speaker, Harmon, Office of the President's Opposition to Plaintiffs' Motion for Summary Judgment - 9/10/21
• Defendants' Response to Plaintiffs' Statement of Material Facts - 9/10/21
• Defendants' Additional Statement of Material Facts - 9/10/21
• Defendants Welch, Office of the Speaker, Harmon, Office of the President's Reply in Support of Their Rule 12(B) Motion to Dismiss Plaintiffs' Amended Complaint - 9/17/21
• Defendant Members of the Illinois State Board of Elections' Reply in Support of Their Motion to Dismiss Plaintiffs' Amended Complaint - 9/17/21
• Reply Memorandum in Support of Plaintiffs' Motion for Summary Judgment - 9/17/21
• Plaintiffs' Response to Leadership Defendants' Statement of Additional Material Facts - 9/17/21
• Plaintiffs' Status Report - 9/24/21
• Joint Motion to Extend the Motion to Compel Briefing Schedule - 9/24/21
• Second Amended Complaint - 10/1/21
• Order - 10/7/21
• Illinois State Board of Elections' Status Report Regarding Scheduling - 10/8/21
• Plaintiffs' Response to the Illinois State Board of Elections' Status Report Regarding Scheduling - 10/12/21
• Joint Proposed Schedule - 10/15/21
• Defendant Members of the Illinois State Board of Elections' Motion to Dismiss Plaintiffs' Second Amended Complaint - 10/15/21
• Defendant Members of the Illinois State Board of Elections' Memorandum of Law in Support of Their Motion to Dismiss Plaintiffs' Second Amended Complaint - 10/15/21
• Answer and Affirmative Defenses to Second Amended Complaint for Declaratory, Injunctive, and Equitable Relief - 10/15/21
• Memorandum Opinion and Order - 10/19/21
• Order - 10/20/21
• Defendants' Motion for Clarification - 10/21/21
• Order - 10/25/21
• Order - 10/27/21
• Defendant Members of the Illinois State Board of Elections' Motion to Withdraw Their Motion to Dismiss Plaintiffs' Second Amended Complaint - 10/29/21
• Petitioner/Defendant-Intervenor's Motion and Memorandum of Law to Intervene - 11/1/21
• Plaintiffs' Motion to Compel Leadership Defendants to Respond to Category 2 Discovery Requests - 11/2/21
• McConchie Plaintiffs' Motion to Withdraw Their Motion to Compel Leadership Defendants to Respond to Category 2 Discovery Requests - 11/4/21
• McConchie Plaintiffs' Response in Opposition to Angelica Guerrero-Cuellar's Petition to Intervene - 11/5/21
• Petitioner/Defendant-Intervenor's Reply in Support of Her Motion to Intervene - 11/9/21
• Plaintiffs' Brief in Support of Their Remedial Legislative Redistricting Map - 11/10/21
• Defendants' Motion for Extension of Time to File Responsive Submission - 11/16/21
• McConchie Plaintiffs' Response in Opposition to Defendants' Motion for Extension of Time to File Response Submission - 11/17/21
• Order Establishing Remedial Submissions Deadlines - 11/17/21
• Order - 11/22/21
• Defendants' Response to Plaintiffs' Statements and Proposed Remedial Redistricting Plans - 11/24/21
• Defendants' Motion for Leave to File Corrected Responsive Statement - 11/24/21
• Plaintiffs' Joint Notice Regarding Remedial Hearing - 11/29/21
• Defendants' Response to Plaintiffs' Statements and Proposed Remedial Redistricting Plans - 11/29/21
• Order - 11/29/21
• Plaintiffs' Reply Brief in Support of Their Remedial Legislative Redistricting Map - 12/1/21
• Order - 12/1/21
• Defendants' Response to Plaintiffs' Joint Notice Regarding Remedial Hearing - 12/2/21
• Plaintiffs' Reply Notice Regarding Remedial Hearing - 12/2/21
• Plaintiffs' Notice of Corrections to Expert Rebuttal Reports - 12/3/21
• Guidelines for Proceedings - 12/3/21
• Defendants' Motion for Leave to File Corrected Expert Report of Dr. Lichtman - 12/6/21
• Plaintiffs' Notice of Filing and Adoption of Motion to Exclude - 12/6/21
• Plaintiffs' Notice of Filing of Hearing Demonstratives - 12/8/21
• Order - 12/8/21
• Defendants' Notice of Filing of Hearing Demonstratives - 12/9/21
• Joint Status Update Regarding Further Briefing and Submissions - 12/9/21
• Opinion - 12/30/21
• Judgment - 12/30/21